- INTELLIGENT RESISTANCE -
Free. Fair. Fearless. Intelligentsiya is made up of Fiji Islanders who are libertarians in their own way and who cherish the free flow of news, ideas and information and will peacefully resist any attempts by the country's military rulers to stifle free speech. intelligentsiya will also bear witness, report and discuss human rights abuses by the authorities.

April 22, 2007

Join the resistance? Yes you can! Stay home on May Day…

May 1 around the world is usually a day to commemorate the working class, among other causes and events.

The date has also become a day on which anarchists and socialists stamp their mark “and in these circles it is often known as International Workers’ Day or labour day. In this form, May Day has become an international celebration of the social and economic achievements of the working class and labor movement.” (Wikipedia)

In the spirit of non-violent resistance to the violent removal of our freedoms, the Freedom Bloggers have initiated a “National Day of Inaction” – Labour Day, May Day – May 1, 2007.

You may have had your public voice taken away and uncertainty in all areas of your lives but it is by not going to work on May Day that you can peacefully show your resistance to this military junta.

Fiji’s public sector unions should not betray the ideals of Labour Day and push on with their plan to stage strikes.

You may think that you staying at home on May 1 will not make a difference, but imagine if thousands of others did the same thing. The effect will be to show this junta that they don’t have the support of the majority of common people - support and legitimacy that they claim to have.

Yes we want to move forward, but how can we when we are bound up by fear and intimidation imposed on us by the military and its junta? Remember the words of White Rose, a small group of university students who bravely published pamphlets during the Nazi terror in Germany calling on citizens to act against Hitler and his cohorts: "Do not forget that every people deserves the regime it is willing to endure."

You can have your say in the running of this country despite elections being some time away – and May Day is the first way to do it.

In many ways, you will have the support of the rest of the world’s workers as thousands elsewhere around the global take action on this day.

As Mahatma Ghandi once said, “For the non-violent person, the whole world is one family. He will thus fear none, nor will others fear him.”

24 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Hey, come on guys, Fiji is getting better. How come you guys are calling for a strike? Do you really have Fiji at heart? I doubt it. We should all be working to lift productivity and not indulge in strikes that derail the progress made by the IG. Come to senses and get a life you guys at this bolg.

It's quite simple. If you disagree with this "protest" -- Great! then go to work and ride the farce of moving the country forward with this illegal regime. Just like they are "moving forward" with Whippy, Verebasaga and Rabaka deaths.

If you agree -- stay at home.

It's a numbers game y'all. If we can't have elections quickly then we will force the issue on our terms as the EU, Oz, NZ and the USA can only do so much. So it's time to step up.

I agree. Outside nations can only do so much, the only real pressure this illegal regime will feel is for the people to say enough. So in a small, safe (not going to QEB for humiliation) way we can say we've had enough of these people.

SO calling for a one day strike (call it what you will, but this is tantamount to a strike) is going to show the Interim Government we mean business? Well and good but what happens to the poor guy who decides to join in and is sacked by his (sole proprieter) employer, ostensibly for some other reason.It's ironic that intelligentsiya initiates a call for a strike for the greater good, when the greater good was apparently what Frank also had in mind on December 5th!And 'keep the faith' seems to paraphrase Frank's justification too: "...we have Fiji well placed in our hearts..."

@ Keyboard Caper: a nightly vigil is against the emergency regulations -- you cannot be seen to be congregating publicly.

However that's fine. So one just relaxes at home in the legally protected zone of your residential premises.

@ Ironic: this is NOT a strike. It is a protest by each individual. And if someone gets the sack for not coming to work for 1 day there are labour regulations in place that individuals can invoke. Employers should be well aware of these labour rights.

As for the "greater good" -- who defines that? Frank certainly not...it's the people, it's the people, it's the people.

And for the record, I have no need to re-phrase Frank's comments as I am quite expressive on my own accord. If you had been following the trail of commentary you would have noticed that I was merely responding to the comments made by the first poster.

To Anon wanna-be florence nightingale @ hospital: Seti seti, you sound more like a boot polisher from delainabua..stop wasting out tax funds prowling these anti-coup blogs that were meant for us who need to spend 5% or more of our time each day surfing the net in protest against yr junta gods!

To Anon who is blog-source obsessed: why don't you tell yr junta bosses to let us hve our constitutional fundamental rights back and I can guarantee you, we will rally, we will march, we will protest, we will strike in a heartbeat and we will YELL THE TRUTH (that you read on these blogs) out from the rooftops of Suva city for all to hear!!!

And can you please, please ensure that Fiji TV ONE trains their cameras on us 24/7. We are DYING FOR THAT TYPE OF EXPOSURE!!!

Please moderator, delete all of Keyboard Caper's comments from now on because he is advertising links (bottom line of his comments) that once people visit the site, he sends their IP addresses to his masters up at Delainabua.

To Anon @ 12.17: I'm willing to pay yr airfare for you to move permanently to Pakistan or Bangladesh or Thailand since you don't care for democracy...but ooops...i forgot you can't get a visa from anywhere, even for transitting..heh!heh!heh!

To anon above on your comment ' we would rather have a job than democracy'..u sound very anal indeed..what good is your job if you can't have the right to education for your kids, the right to not to be hurt, the right to be secured etc..ur mentality can be likened to that of a neaderthal..ulu vavaku vaka na mui ni vore..boi cici

Hve you ever heard of the adage: "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime!" ..I guess you hve no clue what that means or you wouldn't say what you said, ta sukulu!

Why don't you pro-kuku puppets move to pakistan or thailand...i hear their local cuisine's delicious..

And before i get back to my busy job: "If you can't help make heat in the kitchen, then get the F@*#* out!!"

I belive that those who say Fiji is moving forward are in dream land created by the wannabes we have at the moment. One does not even have to open their eyes to see that we are sliding back as soon as Bainvore started challenging our elected MP's. I am very thankful that this idea has come up and I ahve decided to close my office tomorrow.

Somebody should also start a list of companies we should not be purchasing from like prouds, budget rentals, niranjan and so on. I believe that will also be a good way of protesting against the coup culture we are becoming acustomed to.

It’s a pity that these people don’t realize the power of the pen. Big nuts they are for them to publish the blogs on the daily. It even makes people login and give their comments. WFC, you don’t need to pay for Advert because the IG is doing it for you….hehehehe.

Shaista, just get ready for the biggest court case in Fiji’s history where all the members of the RFMF, IG, Labor Party, National Alliance Party and all the stupid people who took up the post appointed by the IG, will be hauled into prison. Maybe Frank should reopen Nukulau for Himself. This time catch your own fish.